Machine for collating or gathering leaves or sections of books.



No. 775.920. PATENTED NOV. 29, 1904.

' A. HESS.

MACHINE FOR GOLLATING OR GATHERING LEAVES 0R SECTIONS OF BOOKS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15, 1904 N0 MODEL.

"5272 cases I fnvenlor 0. 9 PWM' By 505M.

Alla/72% UNITED STATES ALBERT HESS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO T.V. 8a 0. B. SHERI- Patented November 29, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

DAN COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NElV YORK.

MACHlNE FOR COLLATING 0R GATHERING LEAVES OR SECTIONS OF BOOKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 775,920, dated November29, 1904. Application filed August 15, 1904. Serial No. 220,814. (Nomodel.)

To (LZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT Hess, a subject of the King of Great Britain,residing at 35 Cloth Fair, London, England, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Machines for Oollating or Gathering Leaves or Sectionsof Books, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements on that class of collating orgathering machine described in the specification of Patent No. 628,829.dated July 11, 1899, granted to John Bernard Mercer, and also to theimprovements thereon described in the specification of the subsequentPatent No. 731,221, dated J une 16, 1903, granted to the said JohnBernard Mercer as the assignee of Gustav Edmund Reinhardt, in whichmachines a series of swinging arms provided with gripping-jaws isemployed to grasp the bottom one of each of a set of piles of diiferentleaves or sections of a book-as same is separated by suction device fromthe rest of the leaves or sections of a pile and then to carry the leafor section it has seized over a traveling band or belt to which anintermittent or step-by-step motion is imparted, whereby the differentsections or leaves constituting a complete publication are collated andgathered in sets on such traveling band or belt as same travels from oneend of the machine to the other.

In the improvement on this class of machine described in thespecification of Patent No. 7 31,221, above referred to, means aredescribed whereby should any one of the set of gripping-jaws carried bythe swinging arms from any cause fail to seize a leaf or section fromits particular pile a visible signal was actuated, so as to indicate thefact to the operator and permit him to at once stop the machine andremedy the fault.

The present invention relates to an improvement upon this particularfeature of the machine; and it consists, broadly, in means for actuatingboth an audible as well as a visible signal upon the failure of any oneof the set of gripping-jaws to seize a leaf or section, such audible andvisible signals being actuated electrically.

The electrical apparatus above referred to is applied in the followingmanner:

The jaws of the machine which grip the leaves or sections are fittedwith metal (preferably brass) plates or pins, to which are connectedwires attached to an electric battery, bell, and indicating board orannunciator, so that when any of the jaws fail to grip the leaves orsections the plates or pins come in contact, thereby completing anelectric circuit to said bell and indicator, and thus indieating to theoperator the particular leaves or sections which have failed to becollated or gathered.

A suitable method of carrying my invention into effect is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a general view of theportion of the machine to which the invention relates shownin sideelevation and the electrical circuit, including the battery, alarm-bell,and indicator or annunciator, diagrammatically. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection, drawn on a larger scale than Fig. 1, taken through thegrippingjaws and showing the contact plates or pins for completing thecircuit when such jaws fail to seize a leaf or section.

Referring to Fig. 1, (it represents one of the piles of leaves orsections from which the bot tom one is to be removed at each operationof the gripping-jaws and carried and deposited upon the traveling beltor band Z). The gripping-jaws 1 2, carried by the swinging arm 3,mounted on shaft 4, are operated at the desired times through theeccentric 5, mounted on driving-shaft 6, the rod 7, crank 8, andtoggle-anus or jointed levers 9 10 in the 1nanner set forth in thespecification of the prior Patent N 0 731,221, above referred to.

It will be seen in Fig. 2 that the top jaw 2 carries a plate 11, securedthereto but insulated therefrom, as shown at 12, 13, and 1 1-, saidplate being in metallic connection with. the lead 15 in abattery-circuit. This plate 1.1 is provided with a pin 16, projectingslightly below the grippingsurface of jaw 2. A recess 17 is formed inthe lower jaw 1 and is fitted with a pin 18 in metallic connection withsaid arm, so that the two pins 16 and 18 will when the jaws 1 and 2 areclosed be brought l into contact should there be no interposed leaf orsection between them.

As will be seen in Fig. 1, each of the leads or wires from the series oftop jaws 2 is carried upward and enters a tube 19, mounted on thebracket or the frame of the machine on which the swinging arms 3,carrying the grippingjaws, are mounted, such wires or leads beingcarried to any suitable point, where they are connected, respectively,to the difierent disks or tablets of a suitable indicator or annunciator21, included in the circuit of a battery 22, in which an alarm-bell 23is also included, the other pole of the battery 22 being connected by awire or lead 24 with the shaft 4, upon which the swinging arms 3,carrying the gripping-jaws, are mounted, whereby the lower jaw 1 isplaced in metallic connection with such battery.

It will thus be seen that should the jaws 1 and 2 fail to grasp a leafor section between them the pins 16 and 18 by coming into contact willcomplete the circuit from battery 22 and so cause a current to flowthrough the annunciator 21 and alarm-bell 23, thus releasing theparticular disk connected with the given pair of gripping-jaws which areat fault and also audibly call the operators attention to the fact thatsuch faulthas occurred and thereby enable him to remedy it.

The plate 11, to which the metallic contactpin 16, mounted in the topjaw 2, is connected, is preferably of spring form, so as to be capableof yielding, and thus prevent any injury or disfigurement of the uppersurface of the leaf or section which has been seized.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

In machines for collating-or gathering leaves or sections of books, thecombination with each pair of a set of pairs of gripping-jaws mountedupon a series of swinging arms of an electric circuit, the leads orWires from which are connected respectively to the top and bottom jawsof each pair, and of a suitable indicator or annunciator and alarm-bellincluded in such electrical circuit.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT HESS.

Witnesses:

VV. J. FERRY, AUGUSTUS HEAD.

